Rusty Bernstein

Lionel “Rusty” Bernstein was one of many unsung hero’s of the South African liberation struggle. Being white, he always had the choice of living a comfortable life style in the land of apartheid or risking everything in the struggle for equality. He chose the latter and as a result, he became an enemy of the apartheid state and suffered the consequences. He was arrested many times and twice charged with treason. The Security Police constantly raided his home, he was served with many orders that restricted his work as well as his personal freedom, and eventually he was placed under house arrest. This meant he was a prisoner in his own home, his own jailer, allowed out between 6am and 6pm Monday to Friday and was required to report to the police every day between 12 and 2. He was tried for treason alongside Nelson Mandela and other members of the African National Congress (ANC) in the infamous Rivonia Trial. However, his influence ran much deeper than public awareness of these events. Until 1994, when the first free elections took place, he continued to work for the liberation of South Africa and he never renounced his principles or beliefs. Rusty was born in Durban, in 1920; the youngest of four children of European émigrés. Orphaned at eight years old, he was brought up by relatives. These early disruptions to his family life were compounded when he was sent to finish his education at a boys’ boarding school. Hilton College, a private school, was the South African equivalent

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